one "last" kato turnout question

[nik_n_dad]

Thanks for all the great discussion a few weeks ago on feeders and gaps around turnouts.  Here's one more that we ended up with on the layout and I'm thinking this one may be tricky.  (and remember, we're using DCC and kato #6 turnouts, which I believe are always power routing, with no option to change that).  I've tacked on an image to help keep the confusion as minimal as possible (I get confused easily).

 

Given this track configuration, here's my plan to wire this for DCC:

 

Power Feeder at "Z"

 

Insulated Joiners at "V", "W", "X", "Y"

 

Power Feeders at "Vp", "Wp", Xp" and "Yp"

 

1) My thought is that power is needed at "Z" to power both turnouts.  But the question is, will this cause any potential for shorts.  I don't think so, since the phase should be consistent, but I'm not 100% on this.

 

2) I add the insulated joiners at "V", "W", "X" & "Y" to mostly keep the #6 turnouts from switching all of the current on the system through their points.  Is this helpful, required, or does it matter?

 

3) By doing what I just said in #2, I add all of the feeders at "Vp", "Wp", "Xp" and "Yp"

 

Thoughts?  Issues?  Warnings?

 

As always, thanks in advance.

 

Mike (Dad)

 

 

 

 

[KenS]

1) My thought is that power is needed at "Z" to power both turnouts.  But the question is, will this cause any potential for shorts.  I don't think so, since the phase should be consistent, but I'm not 100% on this.

 

Z is a good place to feed to ensure both turnouts are live. 

 

2) I add the insulated joiners at "V", "W", "X" & "Y" to mostly keep the #6 turnouts from switching all of the current on the system through their points.  Is this helpful, required, or does it matter?

 

3) By doing what I just said in #2, I add all of the feeders at "Vp", "Wp", "Xp" and "Yp"

 

Assuming at least the inside rails are insulated at V (and the other three sites) and you feed those rails at Vp (etc), you don't need to worry about problems from the power routing. 

 

The Kato#6 is power routing only on the rails that meet at the frog; the outer rails are continuous metal and never change their source. So, you can also gap the outer rails and feed both at Vp (etc) or just gap and feed the inner rails. Unless you're using a separate booster or circuit breaker output for the Vp feed, you don't need to redundantly gap and feed the outer rails (but it wont hurt anything if you do).

 

Without a gap at V (on the outer rail) the only current that would flow from Z to Vp would be whatever a train in Vp draws (normally a small fraction of an amp, at most the stall current, which is under a half-amp for a modern N-scale train).  Worst case in a short at Vp you'd draw the full current of the command station, for a very short time.  If you use a smaller DCC command station (or circuit breakers) this shouldn't be an issue, as Unitrack is rated for 3 Amps, and even if you have a larger supply, the track can probably handle a lot more for the time it takes the command station's circuit breaker to trip.